Growing on Me
by Fuschia Nicole
Summary: A one-shot songfic about how Ron interrupted Hermione's studying and how they ended up sittin' in a tree, literally


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters those belong to J.K. Rowling, and I don't own the lyrics or music, for that matter, to "Growing on Me" that belongs to "The Darkness"

A/N: Okay, I really don't like writing other stories while I'm supposed to be working on other ones, but I have some SERIOUS writers block on my other story (A Reason to Forget), so I needed to write something else. I just happened to be listening to "Permission to Land" while searching for inspiration, and since I've never written a one-shot OR a songfic this seemed like a nice experiment, so here it is!

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Growing on Me 

"'Mione?"

Hermione kept her eyes intently on the yellowing parchment she'd laid out on the table in front of her. It was something about the effects of wizard magic on non-humans (namely house-elves), though she wasn't really reading it. She was, instead, letting her eyes rove repeatedly over the words "redder variety, it can be said that they are quite irritable and do not" while her ears waited for the inevitable…

"'Mione?"

She sighed but did not look up. Rather, she suppressed an amused smile and tucked one long strand of brown hair that had been hanging down onto the table behind her ear. She moved the house-elves article to the side and pulled her worn copy of "Hogwarts, A History" out of her bag. She pretended to be searching for something very important before settling on a random page. She briefly registered that the page held a large picture of a tall, blonde haired man swathed in yellow quidditch robes before letting her view become fuzzy as her eyes once again waited for what would inexorably come next…

"Hermiiiiiioneeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to look exasperated as she turned to face Ron Weasley, who had set himself comfortably against the tall beech tree she had settled herself under for what she had hoped would be a nice long study session.

"What!?" she snapped, though her razor-sharp tongue had become a bit duller since she'd passed her OWLs infallibly, and what previously might have made Ron jump merely made him grin.

"You _are _predictable, aren't you 'Mione?" he laughed. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her book, though she didn't even bother to pretend to be reading it this time.

"_I'm _predictable?" she muttered under her breath.

I can't get rid of you I don't know what to do I don't even know who's grown on who 

"What do you want," she asked finally, closing the book and throwing it aside. She wouldn't fool herself into thinking she'd do any more studying.

"Absolutely nothing," he chuckled, "No, wait!" he added hastily as she made to open her book again. "I need you to quiz me on transfiguration, seeing as we've got that test in what, two hours? Oh come on 'Mione, it's not like you're doing anything important. Please," he added hastily at the look on her face, something between anger, confusion, and, he thought, amusement. Next second she'd rolled her eyes and was rummaging around in her bag for her transfiguration book.

She passed the book at least ten times as she flipped back and forth through the contents of her bag. She could feel his eyes on the top of her head and didn't quite feeling like rising to meet them yet. She passed the book again and slowly wedged it out from between its neighbors, a small pack of fresh quills and her potions kit. She rose slowly and reluctantly looked up. To her puzzlement he was looking off towards the lake (where a group of three first years were taking it in turns to see who could get closest to the giant squid, which was sun-bathing in the shallows), though she thought she saw a slight pink blush crawling up his neck.

"Ron! Are we going to do this or not?" she tried to glare disapprovingly at him, but felt her lips curving upwards in a weak smirk.

He whipped around, for all the world as though he hadn't been paying attention at all; though she swore she saw the color in his cheeks deepen when he saw her looking at him…

'Cos everywhere I go you're there 

_I can't get you out of my hair_

_I can't pretend that I don't care-_

_It's not fair_

Ron hastily looked away. "Yeah, sure, erm…." His eyes latched onto the back of a Hufflepuff second year's T-Shirt, she was sitting across the lawn but he could see it clearly. It read "Shall we dance?", he frowned but then turned to Hermione, who he knew was still watching him intently, as though he were some particularly interesting giraffe at the zoo. "Shall we begin then?" he forced a weak smile as she flipped open her transfiguration book and turned her eyes to the first page.

"Alright Ron, erm… we've been studying generating spells, so- er… how 'bout this one. In order to produce a chair, one would…"

"Oh hell, I'm terrible at these- okay…erm…" he hadn't realized he'd been looking directly into Hermione's inquisitive brown eyes as he spoke, but he felt the flames of a fresh blush licking his cheeks as he hurriedly turned away. "Erm… you'd… er… you'd…" he stumbled over the answer, he could feel her eyes on his side, he knew she'd probably be frowning, and so let his eyes wander, not back to her, but up into the trees. He didn't look back at her while she was asking the next question either, in fact, he wasn't really listening, which would explain why next minute he was looking at her hand, waving half-heartedly in front of his face.

"Ron! _You _asked _me _to help _you _study, you might as well pay attention. I _do _have other things I could be doing with my time you know," she huffed, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "What the hell is so funny!" she snapped, for Ron had been staring at her, grinning in a goofy way that set Hermione in strong mind of the way Harry used to look when he saw Cho.

Ron shook himself and quickly interested himself in his shoes.

"Sorry, er… what's next?" he mumbled.

"Okay, McGonagall said we'd have to produce a fire out of nothing, so why don't you try that,"

"Sure," he stood, raising his wand ever so slightly. He spun it clockwise and then jabbed at the air, perhaps a bit too forcefully, because next second a torrent of red flames had erupted from the end of his wand and caught on the hem of Hermione's robes.

"Honestly Ron!" she screamed as she jumped up, extinguishing the twisting red blaze with her feet, "I really don't know where you're heads at today!".

She looked up, fully intending to give him a piece of her mind, but forced herself to swallow the burning rant before it reached her lips. He was blushing furiously, and trying to hide it, badly, by looking up into the leaves overhead. She bit down, hard, on her bottom lip to keep herself quiet, Why does he have to be so cute when he's embarrassed? she thought, and hastily looked away, busying herself in magically repairing the charred edges on her robes.

I'm being punished for all my offences 

_I want to touch you but I'm afraid of the consequences_

_I want to banish you from whence you came_

_But you're part of me now,_

_and I've only got myself to blame_

"Erm…" he said after a long silence, "Er… why don't we just skip studying for today. I think I'll be able to pass, if I suddenly somehow learn everything we're supposed to 've learned all year in the next er…" he checked his watch, "hour and a half," he scoffed darkly.

"No Ron, you really were doing better, that chair had, er…"

"Three and a half legs, I know,"

"Okay well, er… let's just try something else, okay?"

"Yeah, sure"

"Okay…why don't you conjure a… let's see… a… we could try a chair again, oh c'mon. Really Ron it wasn't _that _bad and you know it," she added as he rolled his eyes and made to sit down again.

"Ron!" she hissed, "You get your arse off of the ground and- argh! Ron, that wasn't funny!" she laughed, not being very convincing. As he had produced a chair which had landed right on top of her, knocking her off her feet in a fantastic somersault across the grass.

"Yes it was,"

"No it wasn't" she laughed,

"Was,"

"Wasn't"

"Was,"

"Wasn't"

"Yeeeeeeeessssssssss" he snorted, striding over to where she lay spread-eagled on the grass.

"No-it-was-not!"

"Yes, 'Mione, it really was," he laughed as he bent down to help her up.

"Nope," she said- as matter-of-factly as she could between giggles, as she whipped out her wand before he knew what was happening, "_impedimentia" _she laughed, knocking him off his feet and onto his face.

"Her-mi-oh-neeeeeeeeee!!!!" he snorted, pulling himself back onto his feet and spitting out a mouthful of grass.

"Yes?" she laughed, as she pulled herself up, brushing grass off her sleeves, only to be thrown backwards again by another particularly strong jinx. "Ronald Weasley you are dead!" she rolled over onto her stomach and his wand went flying out of his hand as she shouted "_expelliarmus!"_.

You're really growing on me 

_Or am I growing on you?_

_You're really growing on me_

_Or am I growing on you?_

_Any fool can see_

"Hermione that's not- Hermione!" he shouted as he once again went falling onto his face.

"You called?" she laughed as he crawled on his stomach towards his wand. "_Accio wand!" _she called and his wand went flying into her outstretched hand. "Hermioneeeeee!" he whined as she busied herself with her bags.

"Yes? You- Ron!" she screeched, turning on her heel and attempting to run but next second he had plowed into her and knocked her clear off her feet, and she fell onto the grass with an audible thump. "Ron! Give-me-my-wand!" she squealed as she ran at him, but he was too quick and he darted aside, leaving her to topple over the chair he'd been standing in front of. "Ron!" she spat, charging at him again. This time, she caught him by surprise, as he'd been laughing and leaning against the tree and by the time he tried to run she was on top of him and he was somersaulting over his heels. "'Mioneeeeeee" he groaned, as she hurriedly snatched up her wand and sent another disarming jinx at him. This time, his wand flew up over his head and caught in the spidery branches above him. "You little tart!" he spat and lunged at her, but this time it was she who was too fast, as she had already begun to climb up into the lower branches of the tree.

"Come back here!" he shouted. "I'm not going to catch you if you fall," he called.

"Well then you'll just have to come after me I guess," she called down, he could barely see her anymore, she was nearly hidden in the leaves. "But I don't know if you'd want to Ron, there's lots of _spiders _up here you know, don't know if you could handle it," she cajoled. At this he turned beet red and got a foothold on a branch that felt much too weak to hold his weight "I'm coming up, and I'm going to push you out when I catch you," he called, sounding much more confident than he actually was. The last time he'd been up in a tree was when he and Harry had flown into the Whomping Willow, he wasn't certain if he liked trees anymore after that. He could hear Hermione laughing above him. She was much too high, the branches would certainly break if she kept climbing. His eyes scanned the branches around him. He knew Hermione had been teasing him, but there had to be spiders in this tree…

"C'mon! I've been waiting up here for ages! Have you fallen?" she laughed, "Ron?" she called, this time sounding a bit more concerned. "Ron!?" she called again. "What!? Woman you are going to make me fall out of this tree if you keep talking!" he snapped.

Sleeping in an empty bed 

_Can't get off my head_

_and I won't have a life until you're dead_

_Yeah, you heard what I said_

"Well that'd just be too bad, 'cause it's gorgeous up here and I'd hate to have to explain to Madam Pomfrey why you were up in a tree in the first place," she laughed. "You mean why _you_ were up in a tree with me," he barked, the branches around him were becoming steadily thinner and he could see Hermione's feet dangling above him, her sneakers swinging back and forth and making the branch she was sitting on sway slightly. "Hermione! Stop shaking the tree!" he snapped and she laughed, as one particularly powerful kick made the branch he was standing on lurch forward.

He grabbed onto the thickest branch he could find and pulled himself up, his head breaking through the layer of leaves. He looked over at Hermione, who was grinning mutinously at him, and then out at the grounds below. She hadn't been lying, the view from the top of the tree was stunning. 

It had to be almost time for dinner, as the sun was sinking low to the horizon and casting long shadows over the grounds, giving it all a warm, red-orange glow. He hoisted himself onto the branch beside Hermione. It swayed dangerously for a moment before settling again.

" I can't believe I followed you up here" he snorted, looking apprehensively down at the ground that now seemed miles away.

"C'mon, it's not so high. The tree in my yard at home is like three times this size," she added as he rolled his eyes and turned to look at the forbidden forest, which looked even darker with the sun silhouetting it from behind and drawing out the shadows.

"Hey look!" she pointed out to a dark figure sitting on the steps leading up to the intimidating front doors, "there's Harry!". She waved frantically, which made Ron laugh, and then throw out a hand to stop her, as the branch had started bobbing up and down and he was beginning to feel a bit ill.

"I wonder if he'd like to climb the tree," she mused, tucking a long strand of dark brown hair behind her ear; but Ron was glad that Harry wasn't there, he didn't think he could've sat quite so close to her if Harry had been around. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder and their hands were so close that he could feel the heat coming from her fingertips, which was good because it was a bit cold up in the highest branches. He thought briefly that perhaps he should shift to the side, but then no, maybe not just then.

_I wanna shake you off but you just won't go,_

_and you're all over me but I don't want anyone to know_

_that you're attached to me, that's how you've grown._

_Won't you leave me, leave me, leave me alone._

"Ron…" she started, and he turned to look at her. Her hair was billowing slightly in the wind, like the ditzy witches in some of the _Daily Prophet _ads. Her eyes were big and watching him, not appraisingly, just watching. He must have looked into her eyes for a full minute before he realized what he was doing. She was biting her lower lip and she was trembling, which confused him because for some reason he felt inexorably calm. "Ron…" she said again, but she never managed to say what came next because next second she felt his lips brushing hers and then suddenly he pulled back, as though shocked at what he'd done. "I'm sorry, I'm , oh bloody hell I'm such a bleeding idiot, really 'Mione I, it's just…" but what it just was Hermione never found out because she felt herself leaning forward, and then her lips were pressed against his and he melted into the kiss. Neither could quite say how long it was before she pulled away, nor did it matter. Ron, atleast, no longer felt any need to explain himself, but rather rambled over incoherent sentences- "Hermione I, oh, I, 'Mione? That was, oh, wow, er…".

She pressed a single finger to his lips, "shhh" she whispered, and pecked him on the cheek.

She pulled the finger away and he seized the moment to kiss her again, though this time neither of them was very shocked, and when they broke apart, they both were smiling as they made their way down to the school for dinner.

_You're really growing on me_

_Or am I growing on you?_

_You're really growing on me_

_Or am I growing on you?_

_Any fool can see_

_You're really growing on me_

_Or am I growing on you?_

_You're really growing on me_

_Or am I growing on you?_


End file.
